True design icons never get old. Case in point: Humanscale's Freedom chair. Designed by Niels Diffrient in 1999, its design fundamentals remain unchanged 25 years later. And today, it still holds its position as the most ergonomic task chair on the market. Sharing a belief in the power of design and a commitment to excellence, we created a short film to celebrate the quarter-century anniversary of this iconic piece, shedding new light on its history.
“When design springs from an understanding of the people who are going to use the product you begin to see forms that you would never have imagined.”
President Barack Obama had a Humanscale Freedom chair in the Oval Office. He probably still has one, in another office. The Humanscale Freedom chair is one of its kind: its one of the oldest office chairs in the business that still maintains it original design. And it’s the only chair that transforms sitting still into something active, feeling custom-made for whoever sits down. An ergonomic marvel.
Because: the future started 25 years ago, and it is still ongoing. To showcase it, we embraced a new kind of storytelling that combines the history of the chair with its users and the design philosophy behind it. Using the original blueprints, snapshots from the life of the designer — Niels Diffrient — and snippets of popular culture featuring the chair, we highlighted the cultural significance of 25 years of Freedom (the chair).